Seven needles, including two from her liver, had been removed from her body on Tuesday by a team of doctors at the hospital. The girl was stable and was recuperating in the ICCU. But on Wednesday, she developed lung infection. “Her condition deteriorated last night and she died in the wee hours of Friday,” hospital sources said.

The girl, with seven needles in her body including private parts, and a broken arm, was admitted to SSKM hospital on Saturday for a surgery. She was brought to Kolkata from Purulia’s Nadiara village in a critical state after she was physically and sexually assaulted by the employer for whom her mother was a maid servant.

The hospital formed a seven-member medical board on Monday to take a call on the next course of treatment for the child, who was in severe trauma. She was under observation in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

The girl was initially taken to Deben Mahato sub-divisional hospital in Purulia and then to Bankura government hospital. From Bankura, she was sent to Kolkata-based SSKM hospital as she needed surgery to remove the needles.

Hailing from Nadiara, a remote village in Purulia district of West Bengal, the girl was allegedly physically abused for more than a year by a 62-year-old former home guard officer, Sanatan Goswami. A widower, Goswami had employed the girl’s mother as a domestic help.

Hospital sources said the needles appear to have been inserted in her body around 15-20 days ago. She reportedly fell ill and stopped eating, prompting the neighbours, who suspected that Goswami tortured her, to call the police.

Police lodged a case against Goswami under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act after Childline, Purulia, filed an FIR naming him. The accused is still absconding.